Why I Don’t Believe The Waid/Samnee Run On DAREDEVIL Is Ending: One Fan’s Tale Of Denial

by Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell

If you’re a comic book fan and you have the internet, you know there has been a big brouhaha over Mark Waid and Chris Samnee‘s Daredevil monthly. It was announced that issue #36 would be the end of the line for the book. Many fans didn’t buy it, thinking it meant we would soon see a fresh #1 Daredevil comic on stands in time for Marvel NOW! Phase 2 with Waid and Samnee still on board with a $3.99 price tag. Captain Marvel will be doing that for the next phase so it seemed like a safe bet Daredevil would do the same. I mean Daredevil is a beloved comic by fans and critics alike, winning one or two of pretty much every award out there. Well today news hit that the Waid era of Daredevil would be ending with a Marvel Infinite digital comic. What follows is the news and why I don’t buy the report…or rather don’t want to buy it.

Marvel revealed that Waid and his former partner on Irredeemable, artist Peter Krause, would be working on a MarvelInfinity series called Daredevil: Road Warrior this February. The weekly digital comic will serve as a coda for Waid‘s time with Matt Murdock and will see the Man Without Fear leaving Hell’s Kitchen for a cross-country adventure. It will give us new stories, yes, but it will also wrap up the series after the Daredevil #36 is released next year. Marvel.Com‘s story says Road Warrior “marks the end of an era for writer Mark Waid’s acclaimed run with the Man Without Fear.” Waid said of the series:

Up until now, every time we’ve taken Matt out of New York, it’s been in service of awful, awful things. This feels more like the beginning of a grand journey. Which does not discount the eventuality of awful, awful things, of course; no one wants to read a Daredevil story where everything goes smoothly for him.

Matt’s beginning a whole new chapter in his life following the events of DAREDEVIL #36, and he’s excited but apprehensive at the same time. You can be a Man Without Fear and still be a little worried about where the next paycheck is coming from. ROAD WARRIOR is a coast-to-coast adventure/chase with thrills aplenty.

Now there’s no announcement about how long the series will be, but since it’s a weekly we can probably expect a limited run. Some Marvel Infinite comics have ran up to 13 issues.

Here’s why I’m not buying this is the end of Daredevil, especially Mark Waid‘s time on the series. In issue #34, where the entire ‘series ending’ talk started, editor Steve Wacker said:

Javier [Rodriguez] will be back to draw issue #34 in a couple months to give Chris time to focus on our big two-part finale to this era of Daredevil. Sad, I know, but all things must end, right?

He also said we can expect to get our Daredevil fix in bigger and more exciting ways in 2014. Now he could have been talking about the digital series announced today, but 2014 is Daredevil‘s 50th anniversary year. They’re not going to neglect that fact. Spider-Man and X-Men both got big stories to celebrate, and I don’t think they’ll overlook the ol’ hornhead.

They keep saying it’s the end of an era, but that doesn’t mean a new one isn’t right around the corner. The cover to #36, the “final” issue, has a box that says Vol. 3 2011-2013 (click pic to expand). I expect Vol. 4 will be announced soon. Plus Waid spoke to Newsaramaon the 23rd of this month about Matt‘s long-term prospects, saying “quite unexpected and quite familiar at the same time. They may or may not involve a drastic shift in Matt Murdock’s career and lifestyle. But we do know this one thing for sure: the Waid/Samnee/Rodriguez/Caramagna team isn’t going anywhere, and we’re striving for new heights!” That doesn’t sound like someone bowing out after a digital comic. If anything, to me, that seems like the digital series is the prologue into what comes next.

Is Daredevil ending? Yes and no. We’ll probably have to wait a while for a regular, physical, monthly book but I don’t think Daredevil is going anywhere. What that means for Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and the regular monthly gang remains to be seen though. They’re too highly acclaimed and regarded for Marvel to just close up their shop. You always want to leave folks wanting more, but leaving now would seem strange. Whether this is just me being in denial and connecting unrelated things to make myself feel better, I don’t really care right now. I’m a Daredevil fan and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next, but I don’t want to let Waid and Samnee go just yet. Waid writes A LOT of books for many different companies that are just as great, but his Daredevil is pure magic. Samnee and Waid are a magical combination. More and more recently if you ask someone what their favorite Marvel comic is, they’ll say Hawkeye or Daredevil. I don’t want it to end. The Tenth Doctor sums up my feelings perfectly:

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I'm a comic book and movie nerd who loves to share news I find interesting and hope you do as well. I'm a big Doctor Who fan and sci-fi in general. My favorite comic characters you ask? Well Thor, Wolverine, and Daredevil.

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